Speed Up Your WordPress Website by Implementing Easy Speed Optimization Strategy

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According to the research study, WordPress powers over 43.3% of all websites, making it the most popular platform for building dynamic websites and online stores. Even though it is easy to start with WordPress, performance is a pivotal issue among WordPress users who need help to speed up their site. In this competitive era, where technology is ever-changing and keeps updating, we must stay ahead of the technology curve to fulfil our client’s needs. Speeding your WordPress site can help your website in one or more ways. In this article, we’ll cover the most important ways to boost the performance of your WordPress website and implement it instantly.

Importance of Speeding up Your WordPress Site

For a long time, Google has emphasized performance and recently introduced Core Web Vitals that measure the page experience based on accurate user data. If you want to know the health of your WordPress site, evaluating the page speed is crucial, as a sluggish website is not acceptable to the user or Google. It does not matter how good your website content is; if the visitors must wait for the webpage to get loaded for more than 2 seconds, they will likely abandon it and move ahead. Therefore, to keep your visitors stay longer on your website and encourage them to act, speed optimization plays a vital role as it brings an enhanced user experience.

Tips to Optimize Your Website Speed

There are many approaches available in the market to speed up WordPress. Some are non-technical, while others involve installing a plug-in or changing some of the code yourself.

Run Your Website Performance Test

First, we should figure out where our site stands performance-wise. When we talk about performance, it varies by visitors’ geographic region, internet connection strength, and whether their browser caches your site. Therefore, there is no all-encompassing metric that sums this up. Page speed also varies across your site’s pages depending on the amount and type of each web content. Website homepages are typically the go-to for estimating load speed, although you should also be testing other particularly high-traffic pages.
Test your site with a free performance measuring tool like Website Grader to get the best actual calculation. This tool and many others provide speed suggestions you can apply and then try again. Just paste your home page URL and see how your site performs.

Choose a Trustworthy Hosting Provider

For a fast WordPress website, quality web hosting is the foundation, and choosing a hosting provider and a plan that meets your resources and performance requirements is essential. Most WordPress hosts offer several types of hosting:

  • Shared Hosting
  • Dedicated Hosting
  • Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting
  • Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

Established websites with more content and higher levels of regular traffic should instead find a dedicated VPS or managed hosting plan from a reputable provider. These plans will allocate enough server resources to handle increased traffic without affecting load time.

Employ the latest version of PHP

PHP is the scripting language that powers all WordPress websites and is a server-side language, signifying that its files are stored and executed on the web server that hosts your site. PHP also releases occasional updates to run more efficiently, just like themes and plug-ins, which in turn helps your pages load faster. In 2015 the latest stable version of PHP was PHP 7, a significant performance improvement over PHP 6. If it’s not PHP 7, ask your host to update your site’s version of PHP. You can also check your hosting site’s documentation or contact support to see which PHP version you use.

Install High-Quality Plug-ins

The best WordPress plug-ins code so that they only consume the server resources when required. These plug-ins are also light on code, occupy less storage space on your server, and are regularly updated to keep up with WordPress core updates. By reviewing the recommendation lists, we can ensure that our plug-ins are performance-friendly, which usually determines how well each plug-in is built and maintained. Before installing a new plug-in, review reviews and feedback for any complaints of poor performance, and re-run performance tests after you activate, ensuring your speed has not significantly impacted.

Avoid Redirecting of Webpage

We often face the challenge of posts getting deleted or relocated, or you need to rearrange your site’s structure. The best way to avoid 404 errors is by implementing permanent redirects. Still, try to limit the number of redirects on your WordPress site. Each one adds an extra bit of load time. Especially if you have multiple redirects sending visitors to other redirects and so on, redirects are often unavoidable, but optimizing your site architecture early on will keep them to a minimum and avoid messy redirect chains.

Compress Files with GZIP

Another effective way to speed up your WordPress site is by employing GZIP compression. A feature that compresses the files on your website before they are transferred from your server to the browser, reducing their size and helping them load more quickly. There are many plug-ins that can enable GZIP compression on your site, and to enable GZIP compression on your site, you may need to make some changes in your web server or hosting account, or you can use a plug-in to help you out.

Maintain Your Website by Employing Essential WordPress Maintenance Tasks

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Operating a WordPress website is equivalent to raising a child, as your work does not end there; it is just the beginning of building a beautiful and highly functional website. As we look after the child’s upbringing and growth, a business owner needs to take care of their website by regularly inspecting their WordPress site’s performance or task to ensure it is up and running, secure and serving their users as per the company’s expectations. The ongoing process rewards your effort with reliability and stability, which every website owner needs to get hands-on expertise. You can either hire a WordPress maintenance service provider or do it yourself. This article will cover the essential WordPress maintenance checklists and tips.

Why WordPress Maintenance Plan?

WordPress – the most popular Content Management system, accounts for almost 42 percent of total websites online, providing high-quality services. Operating a WordPress website is like handling a company. Just like a company needs maintenance service on a timely basis, a WordPress website to require a regular maintenance service to ensure your website runs smoothly.

Benefits of WordPress Website Maintenance

In WordPress, regular maintenance is a useful routine, as it consists of multiple elements that all have to work perfectly in concert. Overlooking an update or two might mean that your website becomes prone to theme and plug-in conflicts, not to mention dangerously exposed in terms of security.

Update the WordPress Software

You can easily update to the latest WordPress version with a click of a button. The software is frequently updated to fix bugs, improve, and add new features. All you need to do is ensure that your website has the latest security patches, the newest features, best speed and performance. The WordPress core, plugins and themes can all be set to update automatically, resulting in insufficient time to evaluate how everything might work together. The best practice is to update all files in a staging environment first. Once you know how updates will play out on your live website, you can implement them on your live site.

Frequently Change Passwords

Changing passwords might sound weird, but using the same passwords for a long time is one main reason to protect your website from getting hacked easily. WordPress experts recommend changing passwords regularly to protect your website from phishing and brute-force attacks. The best practice to change your passwords is every 60 days, and add two-factor authentication to gain more security for your site.

Run Performance Tests

The performance test must run regularly to improve your site. Most people mistake running a performance test only at the start and never again. Suppose you have made any major changes to the appearance of your website, like trying out a new theme; you must always check to see that all your website’s HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are compatible with major browsers such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. Therefore, regularly performing testing helps you keep track of your site’s speed and response time from the user’s experience and also give clues about what factors might slow down your site.

Catch and Fix Broken Links

We often must have come across the ‘404 not found error’ page while browsing a website; it is nothing but a broken or dead link, either deleted or moved to a different location. In simpler terms, broken links are URLs linking to content that no longer exists. It is highly recommended to check and remove broken links from your site to avoid any negative user experience and harm to your WordPress SEO and rankings. You can easily check your website for any broken links by using a broken link-checking plug-in such as Broken Link Checker by WPMU Dev. Once the plug-in is installed, it will automatically check for broken links.

Backup Your Website Regularly

Imagine that one day you wake up and notice that your site suddenly shuts down. It becomes a nightmare as all your important data is gone. To avoid such circumstances, frequently taking a backup of your site is a good approach. It is the most fundamental maintenance task, as having an updated backup will always be just a few clicks away from coming back to life.

Audit the Content

Keeping the on-site content up to date helps build trust between you and your customers. The best practice would be staying one step ahead of everyone else by constantly improving your content, as search engines appreciate updated content. Moreover, using a paid SEO tool like Ahrefs, you can learn more about how your content performs compared to the competition.
Hence, these WordPress maintenance tasks may make it look simple, where anyone could do them, but not everyone has the time. A professional WordPress maintenance service will have expertise in all the discussed areas. You need to take on many maintenance tasks, including but not limited to visiting your site in the front end, backing up your site daily, or even considering hosting your site in another provider. Make sure your site is performing well and is reviewed weekly, monthly, and yearly.

Importance of Having a Regular Website Maintenance Check for a Better Business Growth

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As the website acts as the face of the company to its users, the company must flourish its brand image by advertising its products and services to the fullest. Since your website is a crucial aspect of the business, ensuring timely website maintenance will keep your business running smoothly and efficiently. It is the process of maintaining the site well-maintained by regularly checking for issues and making improvements along the way. Regular maintenance for every website is integral because, without it, your content becomes outdated, security starts lacking, and page rankings take a significant hit.

Importance of Website Maintenance

Simply put, a website maintenance plan is an ongoing service to maintain and support the overall growth of your website. For instance, if a site has not been maintained accurately, a lot can go wrong, just like holding a car – keeping it up-to-date with regular maintenance like oil changes and tire rotations will protect you from dealing with more significant problems in the future.

As the website acts as the face of the company to its users, the company must flourish its brand image by advertising its products and services to the fullest. Since your website is a crucial aspect of the business, ensuring timely website maintenance will keep your business running smoothly and efficiently. It is the process of maintaining the site well-maintained by regularly checking for issues and making improvements along the way. Regular maintenance for every website is integral because, without it, your content becomes outdated, security starts lacking, and page rankings take a significant hit.

Ideal User Experience

The user’s mindset thrives on quick and snappy websites. No frequent internet user will patiently wait for a slow and unresponsive page to load. Regular website maintenance will ensure that your website has the recent version of the theme and template, providing an optimal user experience. When a website lacks care, it may fail to show effective and efficient results to its users.

Security of Website

Security is one of the primary reasons why the business owner should opt for regular website maintenance. As it is known, hackers always lurk around surfing the internet, trying to find a potential website with a weak security system. Ensuring a secure network will help keep the hackers at bay and avoid possible data breaches.

Enhanced SEO

SEO is the foundation of well-performing websites. Commonly used search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo show results of websites that are updated regularly, newly published and have relevant content to offer a seamless experience to their customers. Timely maintenance can prove to be an efficient solution to SEO optimization and help you stay up to date with keywords and current content.

Lifts site traffic– A higher visitor traffic leaves a footprint on the business. Half the battle is already won once you gain user engagement. Adhering to new and improvised technologies that improve user experience can attract many visitors to your website. An efficient team can help you assess the website and help you make the necessary changes, like tracking and fixing errors and ensuring that you meet the required standards.

Reliable Website Backups

Consistent backups are the best way to ensure information stays safe and no data is lost. Typically, there are two types of back-up formats; automatic and manual. It is always advisable to keep the backups in an easily retrievable place. Keeping a backup in hand can prevent the loss of valuable data and safeguard human clerical errors.

Strengthens Brand Image

A well-maintained website is key to a solid business reputation. The business’s website and performance eventually is the basis for its consumers to view and judge it accordingly. Consumers also tend to implicate a negative quality of your products and service if the website is outdated. Henceforth, it is necessary to keep your software, content and plug-ins up to date for optimal user experience and to maintain the company’s goodwill.

Customer Loyalty

Apprised content can help you retain your existing consumers and attract potential clients. Satisfied consumers will consume the content you post regularly. The best way to show regular consumers they are valued is by creating fresh content and posting it regularly. By having consistent website maintenance, you can have enhanced service options and show up quickly in the search engines.

Over a while, there has been a considerable bulge in the taste and preferences of the consumers. As a result, users tend to shift towards businesses that offer them an optimal user experience. Since this trend plays an essential role in the lives of companies, they need to ensure they stay in business by regularly updating their website with content, keywords, plug-ins, and software and SEO optimization.

Is Website Maintenance an Essential Part for Business Growth?

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Like every other automobile and mechanical item that requires regular maintenance, the website needs to undergo regular maintenance to keep it running smoothly. A company website is the foundation of any business’s digital presence. Therefore, it is vital to function properly and keep the system updated to avoid losing business opportunities such as partnerships, sales, or leads. If you are operating an e-commerce realm, the first impression is the design of your website and having the newest products and services updated regularly to attract audiences. In this blog post, we will not only discuss the importance of website maintenance but also share some tips for keeping your site running smoothly.

All you need to know about website maintenance

Website maintenance refers to the tasks required to keep your website functioning properly and updated in layman’s terms. Regular maintenance enhances the website’s speed and avoids big problems down the road through security. However, it is an important part of running a WordPress site and keeps users coming back, improving search engine ranking and preventing hacking.

Importance of Website Maintenance

There may be many reasons why website maintenance is essential for the industrial website. The first reason is to have a smooth operating website that ranks higher in Google searches and is organically discovered by new customers. Apart from technical tasks such as fixing bugs, broken links, outdated content, or even security breaches, website maintenance services includes upgrading your visual branding, integrating with new systems and software when required and improving the customer experience with the latest trends and tech stacks.

Improves User Experience

With post-Covid, online stores are popping up daily, with an estimated 12–24 million ecommerce sites across the globe giving tough competition to one another. So, having a user-friendly and attractive website can prove beneficial to your business growth. Above all, performing website maintenance on your business website periodic improves your site and makes it easier for your customer to operate your website. In addition, these improvements encourage users to engage and stay on your site longer. Therefore, maintaining your website is beneficial as it helps improve your site’s user experience and encourages user engagement.

Boosts Search Engine Optimization Ranking

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) determines where on the search engine results page your site should be displayed based on the relevance of your website related to the user’s search. Many tactics can employ to help improve your website’s ranking. These updates include optimizing your website to be user-friendly on all devices, consistently updating your content with the latest information, and ensuring your website always has the most up-to-date security measures. All of these fall under the umbrella of website maintenance. Therefore maintaining your website is beneficial for your business’s website SEO ranking.

Boost Your Website Speed

A business website needs to be easy to use and needs to be fast for users to stay on your site for a longer duration. If it takes longer than a few seconds to load, there is a chance of losing essential customers, resulting in a business outcome. In addition, maintaining your website allows you to optimize elements of your website design that may be slowing your site down. Another benefit of consistently maintaining your site is improving your site’s load speed. It is another factor that search engines consider when determining your SEO ranking, which is an added benefit of maintaining your website.

Track the Performance of Your Website

When performing site updates for website maintenance, there is a chance these updates can cause other parts of your site to break. Once these updates are completed, it is important to check that all site elements are working properly. It is also beneficial to completely check your website once per year, even if there are no large updates required.

Update Your Website Design

To stay updated with the market and customers with the commencement of new technologies and software, one needs to update the design of your website if it has been a while since you created one. Website design trends are continuously evolving. If your site does not meet the current user experience standards and captivating design, your business probably overlooks potential leads or customers. Another aspect of website maintenance is updating your business website design periodically. If your website design needs updating and you are unsure where to start, working with an experienced web design agency will provide you with a knowledgeable partner and assist you in reimagining your business website design.

Revise Your Website Content

Creating, designing and updating a website is not only a part of your maintenance. Website content also plays a vital role in gaining the customer’s attention. In addition, with the upcoming new business ideas, your website content needs to be updated, reflecting your goals, products, and values as your business grows and evolves. According to business goals, we need to review the content and see which parts must be removed or improvised. Over time your content will become more targeted, and your target audience will find the value that can help them decide to complete a purchase or not. Besides updating your content, you should also ensure all of your business’s information, such as contact details and address, are accurate. Having outdated contact information can cause users to lose trust in your company due to neglecting your website.

Update your Website Backup 

We often keep the backup of our data in fear of losing it. Likewise, backing up your site is the only way to protect you from losing all your confidential data. The backup of a website should be automated and performed weekly to ensure that the latest versions of your website are available at any given point in time.

Therefore, operating a business website needs to look for regular maintenance services to keep your website running smoothly and looking great. Website maintenance includes updating plugins, reviewing analytics, editing or deleting pages/posts, WordPress upgrades, and more. By regularly maintaining your website, you can ensure that all of your content is up-to-date, your visitors have a positive experience, and your site remains secure.

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